LUCY I'M HOME! ;)

Very sorry, meant to publish this last night!

Thank you for the reviews, I-Want-Cheese and CinnamonMintiMoon

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE.

CHAPTER 21

After they all had a long conversation, discussing the possibilities of who or what Quirrel was talking about, Oliver and Asia were the only two left in the common room.

He was sitting in an armchair in front of the fire, and she was standing by the window, looking out on the castle grounds.

"What's troublin' you?" He said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"You've been looking out the window for over an hour." He replied.

It was true; I was staring out of the window, searching... I often do that around the holidays, as we all miss someone on Christmas and secretly hope that they'll come through the door.

Don't get me wrong, I always enjoyed the holidays and festivities but I missed my mother and my heart became even heavier around this time of year thinking of my father. Where was he? Was he even alive? I have told you that I blame him for a lot of things, and yes this is true, but my soft spot comes around the Christmas holidays and my heart tries to forgive him but my mind scolds it.

"Oh, I was just thinking." She said shortly, not really wanting to get on the subject and looked back out the window.

I was taken by surprise when a set of arms wrapped around me, and Oliver rested his chin on my shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He whispered.

"Not really." She replied softly, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Come." He said, taking her hand and leading her back towards the fire. He sat down on the couch next to her.

She rested her head on his chest, and sighed.

"I was thinking of my parents…" She began.

Oliver nodded, and ran his hand through her hair.

"It's perfectly normal and okay to miss them, especially around the holidays." He said soothingly.

"I know…" Her voice broke slightly. "It's just that, I shouldn't miss…him."

"Your father?" He asked.

"Yes." She wiped a few tears. "He doesn't deserve it…" She sniffled.

"He may not, but you can't control it." He said while wrapping his arms around her again.

She exhaled and nodded, staring at the fire place infront of them.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence Asia picked up her head.

"Wait a moment!" She said, sitting up straight.

"What?" He grinned at her.

"You never told me how you managed to pull me out of the girls dormitory this morning!"

Oliver gave a hearty chuckle.

"Well, I just used Accio." He said simply.

"Are you serious? Accio?" She said, sitting up and staring at him.

"Yes." he grinned. She playfully punched him as he lunged at her and began to tickle her.

"STOP!" She laughed doubling over.

Both of them ended up losing their balance and falling off of the couch. Asia tried to roll out from under Oliver but he pinned her down.

"Unfair conduct!" Asia called to an imaginary referee. "This guy is kind of burly, and I don't possess any upper arm strength."

They looked at each other for a second, laughed and then kissed.

It was a lot rougher than the first, and as I've told you, I don't object to kissing at all. This was only the second time and I noticed that it felt like time had stopped when we kissed.

Really, it probably lasted about a half hour…or what felt like a half hour to me.

Asia pushed Oliver off gently, both catching their breath.

"Gets better each time." She laughed.

Oliver grinned and said. "Why'd ye' push me off then?"

"Because I was losing oxygen." Asia said casually, smirking. She got up from the floor, moved herself to the couch and stretched out on it yawning.

"What? Can't last a half hour snogging?" He said cheekily.

"Oh no, I can. You were just crushing my diaphragm." She retorted, and rolled onto her side facing the couch cushions.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Yes, it's been a long day." She yawned again, turning towards him. "Care to join me on the couch?"

Time is of the essence, and therefore we must skip forward to the month of June. A most peculiar time of the year, everyone is stressed out about end of the year exams with the exception of the graduating class, who take their exams in May.

If you're wondering about Oliver and I, our relationship grew more throughout the six months between; we had only made it official the second week of May. Of course from then on, things became more stressful with exam preparation. The O.W.L.s required as much studying as the N.E.W.T.s though the tests were completely different. Fights occasionally broke out among all of us, being under so much stress. Oliver and I fought from time to time, but the worst fight in our five years of friendship was during the week of the O. .

I can't really recall what it was about, but Oliver blew up at me and I fought right back. The day we fought was the first Thursday in June, towards the end of the O.W.L. week but everyone was more stressed out at the end of the week than they were in the beginning. My astronomy exam was scheduled around 1 am at the end of the week, and I was of the last students to take the exam.

As I walked down the hallway back to the dormitory, I heard whispering. Mind you, I thought I was hearing things. After all, it was in the middle of the night, I was already half asleep during my astronomy exam. Though there was something that reaffirmed that voice, for I was blasted into the wall moments later.

THUD

"You've got to me kidding me." Asia muttered sleepily and picked herself up from the floor, just as another spell missed her by inches.

Asia sighed, annoyed that she was going to have to duel instead of sleep, and used the debris and stone from the wall she was smashed into and flung it at her attacker.

It was so dark, and all I could see was his silhouette. He laughed at me, and said…

"You're a foolish girl."

His voice was strangely familiar…it was an echo of a past I had long left behind. Or at least, I thought I had left it behind. After that night, it would come back at me with such force that it would knock me off my feet from time to time.

"No, you're a foolish man for attacking a girl" Asia hissed as her eyes turned a dark bloody red.

"We can't keep this going much longer." whispered another man, his voice was cold.

"Imperio!" He said swiftly.

Nothing.

I wasn't always trained in my elements; some would certainly have seen it as child abuse if they had heard of Severus teaching me resistance to the Imperius curse. Honestly, I thought it was too, but it did become useful from that year onward.

"Ah, a strong one. Not so foolish after all is she, Quirinus?" the cold voice hissed again..

"Won't go down without a fight. I hate to do this to something so precious, so beautiful, and so valuable…Crucio!"

In my half-conscious state, I surprisingly didn't see that coming. The pain was like nothing I had ever experienced; of course, the caster was the epitome of a soulless, heartless, fiend. The cruciatus curse and I would be acquainted again a few times in the following years. The curse can go on for however long the caster wants, and this went on until I blacked out…which must have taken a long time, for I did not wake for three and a half days.

When I woke, I was in a fairly dark chamber. My eyes half opened, I felt so tired and so sore. I tried to move, but with no result but I was not pinned to the ground like I thought I was. I was told much later by a Healer that I was in so weak I could not lift myself.

I heard their voices again, and my heart began to race as I heard footsteps approaching me. I was defenseless, and so frightened that I couldn't keep my eyes from changing color.

As you can guess, it was Professor Quirrel. I don't think you can imagine the horror that I felt to see him smirking at me. But there was more to this man… He unwrapped his turban and turned around and I saw a sight uglier than anything I had ever seen before.

Voldemort.

"Anastasia." He rasped, staring down at her. "Far more beautiful than your unenlightened mother."

To have my mother's killer insult her legacy right in front of me was a cruel blow.

His grey face twisted into a horrible smile.

"You're going to come with me for a while." He whispered, stroking her face.

The room was spinning, and I felt so weak. I mustered up enough strength to just barely speak.

"Yeah…I'll work…for you…when hell freezes over."

At that moment, it felt like a thousand knives were cutting me. The pain was just as excruciating as the Cruciatus but I saw blood, for one of several deep cuts was on my forehead.

"You'll change your mind soon enough." Voldemort smirked.

My vision was going, my head ached…and then there was darkness.

When I woke again, I was still in the chamber but I could feel myself being moved. I was so confused and frantic, where were they taking me? If he had wanted me to work with him, he'd have to kill me. I had to use what little energy I had left to put up a fight. It was the prey trying to scare the predator.

She forced her eyes open, letting them go dark. A low hiss escaped her throat; she shook the floor beneath them.

And then I heard some familiar sounds, sounds that I hadn't heard in ten years.

"Shh…it's okay."

Severus.

Asia returned to normal, she stared around trying to match the voice to the face she knew well.

I tried to move myself but I couldn't without feeling incredibly sore. I cried out in pain after just trying to move my arm.

"Don't move!" He said. "You'll hurt yourself more if you move."

He then began muttering something what sounded like a counter spell of some sort.

I passed out once more, and woke a few days later in a bright hospital room. In a chair to my left was Severus, who had dozed off.

"Ah, Miss Dalio. I see you have awoken." said Professor Dumbledore, appearing at her side.

"How long have I-" She began, but Dumbledore cut her off.

"You have been missing for a week. You were recovered four days ago, and you slept for three. You are lucky to be intact, for if you were human, you would have been dead after the first hour of the Cruciatus curse."

"Over an hour?" Asia was surprised; it seemed long, but not that long.

"Yes, one does not know time when under such horrible conditions." He responded.

"Where am I?" Asia said looking around, for this was not Hogwart's hospital wing.

Professor Dumbledore had explained to me that my wounds were so bad when I was found that I was moved into Saint Mungo's Hospital, to the Dark Creatures Wing. The fact that creatures and animals that were considered "Dark" had their own wing was confusing to me. I truly wondered who or what else would be placed in this wing if they had an illness or injury, and what kind of illness or injury they could possess…

He also told me that Harry had found me, what happened, and about the Sorcerer's stone.

"With you at his side, and that stone he could become more powerful than he ever was." Dumbledore said.

I was discharged the same day, but forced to take bed rest in the school's hospital wing. For the Healers had felt that Madam Pomfrey was suitable to take care of me seeing as I was recovering. I don't even want to think of how bad the wounds could have possibly been that I had to be rushed to a special wing in Saint Mungo's of all places.

I was advised to sleep, and I wasn't discharged from the hospital wing until the day after the last day of term. It was the first time that I didn't take the train home from school, or meet Remus at the station.

Oliver went to see me every day while I was in the hospital wing, and insisted on eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with me. I swear he kissed me one million times, and apologized two million times. Though I had forgotten the argument…in fact, I forgot most of my encounters from the week before I was taken.

I was happy to leave school though, and head back to our cottage located in the middle of nowhere. I rested for a week, then packed and headed off to Remus' for 3 weeks. Afterwards, I would go and visit Jenny and her family in Scotland for a week, and then Percy and us would go to Oliver's house for a week. Jenny would then come to Severus' cottage with me; we would stay there a week or more. Then we would go to The Burrow and do some school shopping with the Weasley family. This had been apart of our summer traditions since our second year.